FRENCH FASHION FINE

A FRENCH court fined Mayor Jean-Pierre Brard of Parisian suburb Montreuil-sous-Bois this week for banning a planned fashion show of traditionally Islamic women's clothing. Brard, who vetoed the show on the grounds that he saw it as: (i) promoting the wearing of the Islamic veil, (ii) because it barred men from the audience and (iii) because it "could result in a serious disturbance of the peace", was ordered to pay 750 Euros to Jasmeen, the company that tried to organise the event. "This decision constitutes a legal victory over the recurrent arbitrary decisions of some elected official and public services towards the Muslim community," the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, said in a statement. The Muslim community in France is estimated to be Europe's biggest, making up approximately 10 per cent of the country's 600-million population. (October 25 2005, AM)